\u00a0
“I took a good start, but I did an extra pitstop because I thought I had a puncture,” explained Violet. “I made a mistake \u2013 it was only in my head \u2013 but I think I lost around three minutes. Still, I am really happy to win, and it is always a pleasure to race with the FIM.”
\u00a0
With a big turn-out of riders registered for the series taking their positions among an entry numbering more than four-hundred, smoothly negotiating the opening lap of the thirteen-kilometre course was essential and Violet completed his first circuit comfortably clear of compatriot and nearest challenger Alois Waloszek \u2013 Yamaha.
\u00a0
With no real pressure to perform, Violet looked fast and relaxed and every lap he consolidated his position at the front of the registered riders with Estonia’s Karl Rillo \u2013 Yamaha briefly stepping up to challenge him as Belgian Glenn De Swarte \u2013 Honda climbed the order, just ahead of a three-man battle for the remaining series podium positions.
\u00a0
Locked together on points at the start of the day, Belgium’s Dirk Schelfhout \u2013 Honda and French rider Benoit Sebert \u2013 Yamaha were in turn just five clear of fourth-placed Fabien Michel \u2013 Yamaha and the trio were in determined mood with Schelfhout holding an early advantage from Michel and Sebert.
\u00a0
A major key to success in such a long and arduous race is steering clear of problems and after settling into a fast-paced rhythm, apart from his puncture scare Violet appeared to be virtually untroubled for the full two-and-a-half-hour duration as he underlined his credentials as champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography-1024x682.jpg\")
\n\n\n\n
For the first hour, with Waloszek and Rillo running two-three behind Violet, Schelfhout was looking good for series silver, but that all changed on lap six when Michel picked up the pace and moved ahead of the Belgian and then continued his forward charge until he was second of the registered riders.
\u00a0
As Sebert’s challenge fell away, Waloszek strengthened his grip on third ahead of Portugal’s Nuno Goncalves \u2013 Yamaha, but fifth for Schelfhout dropped him to third in the final standings, a frustrating four points behind Michel.
\u00a0
Making up for the disappointment of missing out on a medal in the main category, Sebert had the consolation of wrapping up the Quad Veteran crown ahead of Schelfhout and Goncalves.
Staged earlier in the day over a shortened course and a ninety-minute duration, victory in the Moto Junior class \u2013 and with it the title \u2013 was claimed by French racer Matheo Gerat \u2013 Yamaha who took full advantage of an early retirement by series leader Evan Demeester \u2013 Honda to turn a seventeen-point deficit into an eight-point winning margin.
\u00a0
“It’s been really close with Evan across the different races in Portugal and Italy where we were neck and neck,” said Gerat. “Here at Le Touquet, unfortunately, he had to retire in the first few laps. It’s a shame because we could’ve had a great battle, but that’s just how it goes and I’m super-happy to win the championship.”
\u00a0
Global focus now shifts to today’s three-hour Moto race when Britain’s Todd Kellett \u2013 Drag’on Yamaha and Belgian Amandine Verstappen \u2013 Yamaha will attempt to defend their titles in the face of fierce opposition with the weekend’s main event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With a second consecutive Quad class title already secured at the penultimate round in Portugal at the end<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[311],"class_list":["post-9502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-motorsports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography.jpg",1600,1066,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography-1024x682.jpg",640,426,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography-1536x1023.jpg",1536,1023,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography.jpg",1600,1066,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"International<\/a>","tag_info":"International","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Pablo-Violet-at-FIM-Sand-Races-World-Championship-2026-Enduropale-du-Touquet-Pas-de-Calais-\u00a9-Frederik-Herregods-Photography.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9502"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9506,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9502\/revisions\/9506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}